As evidence that ASIC is continuing its advertising surveillance program, ASIC has announced that BT Funds Management Ltd (BT) has paid $20,400 in penalties after ASIC issued two infringement notices for misleading online statements contained in two separate advertising campaigns for BT Super.

The first infringement notice was issued for the statement “BT Super Has Outperformed Industry Super Funds Over the Last 5 Years*” published on search results pages generated via www.google.com.au from 26 June 2014 to 18 September 2014.

ASIC was concerned that BT misled consumers by representing that superannuation products issued by BT had generated greater returns than those generated by all industry super funds during the stated period. In reality, BT’s superannuation products had not generated greater returns during the stated period.

The second infringement notice was issued for the inclusion of the words “Industry Super Australia” in the headlines of BT advertisements published on search result pages generated via www.google.com.au from 29 October 2014 to 17 November 2014.

ASIC was concerned that BT misled consumers into believing that BT had an affiliation with Industry Super Australia (ISA), an organisation which manages collective projects on behalf of fifteen industry super funds. BT has never had an affiliation with ISA.

Background: ASIC RG 234